Money has never been anything I had to worry about growing up. And it’s not that I came from a wealthy family, I was just fortunate enough to have two parents who were really smart with their income and expenses. My college tuition was always paid in full. My car payment was taken care of every month. Everything was always handled for me. At least until I graduated from college, got a job, and moved out on on my own. Even then, I continued living as if I were still living at home. I never really paid attention to my expenses just as long as I had a roof over my head and clothes on my back.

Of course you could imagine how long that lasted. Eventually after paying off all my bills I was left with, well, just enough to make it to the next paycheck. Any unplanned expenses threw me for a loop. There have been some times when I’ve really had to squeeze pennies in order to even buy groceries.

Well, I’ve grown really tired of that.

Long term goal: I’d like to be able to pay off my credit cards, and live comfortably on what I’m making while building up a savings account.

It’s a lofty goal, and one that’s not going to happen overnight. But you have to be able to take baby steps first before you can run a marathon, right?

July’s Goal: To track all income and expenses.

I figure this goal is easy enough. It’s actually something I’ve tried getting into the habit of but never succeeded because I could never really find a method that worked for me. I tried saving all my receipts and setting aside a day or two during the week where I would do nothing but take a look at my finances. That didn’t work because I often lose receipts. Not even something like Quicken could help me because I couldn’t log my purchase immediately after I make it.

Right now I’m evaluating the spreadsheet in Google Docs as well as Pear Budget. The only thing with Google Docs is you have to build your spreadsheet so if you’re not spreadsheet savvy, more than likely this will be a frustrating option for you (btw, there’s a fantastic post here about setting up a form to enter transaction data). Pear Budget seems to be pretty easy to setup, but it does come with a price tag ($3 per month). Right now Google Docs is the more attractive option because, well, it’s free of course. Who will win?

Loose Leaf White and Rooibus Tea from The Leaf Market in Lewisville, TX, originally uploaded by krisalis903.

I was feeling adventurous today. After trying loose leaf tea for the first time last night over at my friend Heather’s, I was hooked. So I decided to go on a search for some loose leaf tea and ended up coming across The Leaf Market, not too far from where I work at Vista Ridge Mall next to Dillard’s. The owner Michel Hebert, a nice man with a hint of a foreign accent, actually opened the store just a few months ago. He admitted that at first he didn’t like loose tea until a trip to China about 10 years ago changed him forever. Since then he’d been searching for stores that carried loose tea, but after not finding many in the area, he decided to open his own. He was very helpful when I explained I wanted to try drinking more loose leaf tea and offered some advice. I think it helped that I went there on a weeknight when there weren’t too many people because it allowed him to actually walk me through their tea selection as well as show me some of the tea merchandise he carried. He even provides a short handout for brewing instructions, a handy item for newbies.

All of their teas, packaged in attractive silver tins (more photos here), are located along the right wall when you first walk into the store. Each variety is offered in 3 different sizes, allowing first timers to buy smaller tins of tea before committing to the larger tin and seasoned customers to save a little money per ounce on the larger tins. Most of their teas are also available in glass jars so customers can steal a quick whiff of a tea before purchasing. For expert tea drinkers, they offer infusions for your own custom blend of tea. Their large selection of tea sets and tea infusers will leave tea enthusiasts mesmerized. They carry sets in different styles ranging from Asian to contemporary to classic English style tea sets. Honestly, I probably could’ve stayed there all evening, just browsing.

I ended up purchasing a simple glass tea infuser for a single serving of tea (around $14.50) as well as a small tin of their Provence rooibus tea ($7), and a large tin of Silver Needle white tea ($10). Their selection of rooibus (red tea) comes in a variety of flavors, the Provence being their most popular and with good reason. The Provence tea has an enchantingly sweet aroma to it consisting of rosehip, blueberries, rose petals, lavender, raisins, black currant, and red currant. Seriously, when I brewed it for the first time, I couldn’t stop holding the cup up to my nose to inhale it’s bouquet of sweet perfume. The great thing about the rooibus tea is it’s naturally caffeine-free so you don’t have to worry about drinking it in the evenings before bedtime. I haven’t yet tried the white tea, but I’ll update once I do.

My experience at The Leaf Market was a pleasant one and without a doubt I’ll be returning, if not for the fabulous teas, then at least for Mr. Hebert’s helpfulness and knowledge on teas.

Ooooh… ahhhh…! Yes, the Nikon D60 is coming out (retail at wolfcamera.com starting at $749). I haven’t had a chance to oogle over all the details, but so far from what I’ve glanced over, the D60 will have a slightly faster shooting speed at 3 frames per second (I think the D40 is 2 or 2.5fps). The D60 still has the large 2.5″ screen for viewing, and also offers a 170-degree wide-angle viewing. The LCD screen is also customizable, allowing the user to create their own wallpapers and adjust the color preferences. They’ve also introduced an Airflow Control System in addition to their usual Image Sensor Cleaning function which is designed to channel dust particles away from the sensor with every click of the shutter.

So far this looks like a good camera for people who decided to hold off on purchasing the D40 (yoo-hoo, manda!). Granted it still doesn’t have the capability to fully support AF NIKKOR lenses in auto focus mode, but like the D40 it handles the lenses just fine in manual focus mode. I don’t think I could call this an upgrade from what I currently have, at least not a big enough upgrade to justify a $750 purchase, but I think this would be good starter.

Korea House Dallas, originally uploaded by krisalis903.

This month, my boss and I decided we would have Korean for lunch. Seeing as how I’d never had Korean food before, I didn’t know where to go so our plan was to drive down Harry Hines in Dallas and keep our eyes open for anything that looked remotely like Korean food.

You couldn’t get much more Korean than a restaurant called Korea House. When we saw it we knew we had found land so we pulled into the parking lot and walked inside.

The atmosphere was less Korean than we’d expected. While the visuals were all correct (Korean wait staff and hostess, oriental furniture, etc.), the sounds were a bit off since they had 80s bubblegum pop playing loud over the sound system. That didn’t stop us though.

After browsing the lunch specials we settled on the bulgogi with soft tofu stew. If you’re unfamiliar with bulgogi, basically it’s grilled beef. After doing some research on the Interweb, I’ve learned that “gogi” is the Korean equivalent to “meat” and “bul” is basically the type of meat, which, in this case, was beef.

After placing our order, they brought out an assortment of cold side dishes: sweet and spicy cucumbers, sweet and spicy broccoli, kimchee (spicy, vinegary cabbage), marinated mung beans, shredded radishes, smokey sliced tofu, and marinated boiled potatoes. The stew came out bubbling and the bulgogi came out sizzling and the rice, served in metal lidded containers was warm. It was probably one of the most exciting lunches I’ve had actually as there was so many different things to try.

The generous serving of soft tofu soup was really interesting. It was basically a fragrant, seafood broth with shrimp, mussels, and tofu. Just before serving, they crack an egg into the soup and place it under a broiler where they heat it until it boils rapidly and cooks the egg.

The bulgogi is shredded sirloin steak marinated in soy sauce, sesame oil, garlic, and green onion. It’s seared in a wok on high heat just before serving. Even the rice they served was awesome. Each grain was plump and sticky so it was easy to work the chopsticks on it.

The meal was great. While the seafood soup was too large for me to finish, I liked it. Others might be turned off by the mushy texture of the soft tofu and the egg in the soup, but it’s spicy, garlicy broth makes up for it. Out of the side dishes, the sweet and spicy cucumber was my favorite, then the radish, and then the tofu. The kimchee was a little weird for my tongue, but it was good to try. Out of the entire meal, the bulgogi and rice was my favorite. The sweetened tender meat was spiced with the perfect amount of garlic and green onion. Should I ever return, I think this would be my choice meal.

Seriously, is there any event that DOESN’T have a month dedicated to it? But anyhoo, according to the National Association for Professional Organizers, January is National Get Organized month! Wooo!

Yes, you read that right. Scrapping is so huge that Louis Vuitton is even getting in on it. This would probably be the ultimate gift for the sophisticated scrapper. It’s in somewhat of an unusual size though (7.5 x7.5″) so most standard 12×12 papers won’t fit in it, but it’s real purty

So I went to my favorite store today: IKEA! And yes, IKEA! is so wonderful that it must be in all caps followed by an exclamation mark. I had to get a couple last minute Christmas presents there, plus my coworker gave me a Visa gift card as a thank you for playing her chauffeur while her car was in the shop, so I sauntered on up the Tollway to see what the land of yellow and blue had in store for my pocket book.

I decided to use my gift card on another shelf and lights for my studio table, but when I headed over to the shelving area, I noticed there were none to be found. At least none of the one that I had which was the black-brown 46″ JÄRPEN. I looked EVERYWHERE. There were none! They did have the 31″ JÄRPEN in black-brown, but that was unacceptable. I was really bummed. Perhaps they were temporarily out?

So when I got home tonight, I decided to check out online to see if it could be purchased online. NONE. They didn’t even have any in stock ANYWHERE. I’m REALLY hoping they didn’t discontinue it. That would really really stink. Granted I could probably just move that one to my desk area and then buy two new ones for my studio area, but still, what a pain If anyone knows what’s happened to these shelves, please let me know!

I am in heaven!

The Daily Planner.

Planners, notebooks, journals galore! Even refills! They also carry the Russell & Hazel line which has become my planner of choice.

On the first Friday of every month, I have lunch with one of my bosses. He and I have the same taste in restaurants: one-of, hole-in-the wall type places that you’ll never find anywhere else and has food that tastes as unique as its location.

Siam Thai Cuisine in Coppell fits that description. I had a meeting at 1:30 I couldn’t be late for so we had to go somewhere close. This was the only other place I could think of that I knew of that we’ve never been to. (more…)

Not really though, hehe

I was ecstatic to see my craft area photo was featured on one of the latest posts at the Apartment Therapy blog. I was really excited since this was the second time I’ve been featured (here’s the first).

Why I’m Seriously Considering Having Craig’s Babies, originally uploaded by krisalis903.

(I’m sorry, baby, but it’s true!)

I happened to be browsing Craigslist Friday night when I saw that a woman in Plano (about 5 miles away) was selling 2 Elfa desks complete with filing cabinets for $60! After some phone tag and exchanged emails, she said she would meet me at her old house Saturday at 3pm.

Evidently she and her husband decided to downsize and moved to a smaller place near Denton so this was their “post moving” sale. The tables were in great condition–only a few nicks and scratches here and there, but nothing that impaired them from performing their only duty.

I was worried I wouldn’t be able to fit both tables in my 2-door Solara, but it worked out perfectly! I just had to tie down my trunk because the filing cabinets were a little tall.

Getting them upstairs was actually pretty easy. Except for when I was moving the second tabletop, which ended up being a lot heavier than it looks, I came very close to dropping it down the stairs. And knowing my retardedness, I probably would’ve gone down with it.

But everything got up there safely. I spent the afternoon assembling both desks (it only took about an hour really) and now I just have to finish arranging everything.

I’m so glad I can see my floor again

The last time I participated in The Spring Cure ‘07, I consolidated my many containers of change into one big container of change.

I then went to a Coinstar machine at my local grocery store and I turned my big box of change into $32! That was really nice